Monday, June 8, 2009

Ricotta Gnocchi

The first Daring Cooks Challenge was in April but I have only joined the Daring Cooks for the May challenge, stay tuned for that one. But since the April challenge looked so good I decided to have a go. It was Ricotta Gnocchi. I have only ever made potato gnocchi which is tasty but very heavy. This appealed to me as I love ricotta, I am interested in cheese making and I was able to make my own fresh ricotta. It was sooo good, light and delicate. I made a traditional pesto to use as the sauce. Unsurprising as it may seem there was none left over.

I drained the ricotta for about 6 hours and thought it would be dry enough but needed to add a little extra egg to make the dough stable and not fall apart while cooked it.

This is the homemade ricotta draining in muslin cloth.

The dough is very soft and needs a light touch to form them.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Source: From The Zuni Café Cookbook

Yield: Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)

Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1hour.

Tips:1. If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe,there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, butit's worth it.2. Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet,it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.3. When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay ifthey look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.4. If you're not freezing the gnocchi for later, cook them as soon as you can. Ifyou let them sit around too long they may become a bit sticky.5. For the variations to the challenge recipe, please see the end of the recipe.

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook,Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, takea teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring ofdampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is toowet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towelsand place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and upto 24 hours in the refrigerator. Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully incheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with abowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommendedthat you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi):

Making the gnocchi dough.To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricottain a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a largespoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash thericotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through astrainer to smooth it out as much as possible.Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not,just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture.Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’renot using any particular flavouring, that’s fine.Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft andfluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.

Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the watergenerously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchithat you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t toodamp. In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flourthat’s ½ an inch deep. With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl. Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour.At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flourcovers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour.Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an ovalas best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is anoval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to thetop. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi untilit’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes. If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy,add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in.Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at atime. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi asyou coat them. Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour. You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.

Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in theskillet and set aside.In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quartsof water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits).You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other anddamage each other.Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook themfor 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi).When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for themto finish cooking.Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few timesas it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat.Your gnocchi should be cooked by now.With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently dropinto the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Variations: For the gnocchi, you can flavour them however you wish. If you wantto experiment by adding something to your gnocchi (i.e., caramelized onion,sundried tomato), feel free to do so. However, be forewarned, ricotta gnocchi aredelicate and may not take well to elaborate additions. For the sauce, this is yourchance to go nuts.

Freezing the gnocchi: If you don’t want to cook your gnocchi right away or if youdon’t want to cook all of them, you can make them and freeze them. Once they areformed and resting on the flour-dusted, lined tray, place them uncovered in thefreezer. Leave them for several hours to freeze. Once frozen, place them in aplastic bag. Remove the air and seal the bag. Return to the freezer. To cook frozengnocchi, remove them from the bag and place individually on a plate or on a tray.Place in the refrigerator to thaw completely. Cook as directed for fresh gnocchi.